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Good morning! 🌞 Alfred Janes, Breakfast (1955) ☕🍳🥓 ©the artist's estate. Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/ the National Library of Wales.
An 18th century Chinese New Year feast! Among the traditional celebratory foods is nian gao, a rice cake which is a homonyn for 'higher year' so is thought to bring luck 🥧 Tangyuan (or yuanxiao) are glutinous rice flour balls in soup, which symbolise family unity, and which are also traditional on the Lantern festival which ends the new year celebrations (8 February) 🎐 Oranges, shown in the last image with a hongbao (an envelope of money), are also gifted as symbols of gold and wealth 💰 Photos public domain
'Gie her a haggis!' 🍖 Today is Burn's Night, the Scottish festival that celebrates the life of the poet Robert Burns (1759-1796) 📜 A poem addressed to the haggis - a traditional Scottish savoury pudding of sheep's innards encased in the animal's stomach - is read aloud at the start of the supper, and it was an honour to give this toast at Christ's College Cambridge @christscollegecambridge 🎓 The second image is 'The Haggis Feast' by Alexander Fraser (1840) 🐑 Here's the 'haggis address', written in Scottish dialect - listen to it in my story! : 'Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the pudding-race! Aboon them a' ye tak your place, Painch, tripe, or thairm : Weel are ye wordy o'a grace As lang's my arm. The groaning trencher there ye fill, Your hurdies like a distant hill, Your pin wad help to mend a mill In time o'need, While thro' your pores the dews distil Like amber bead. His knife see rustic Labour dight, An' cut you up wi' ready sleight, Trenching your gushing entrails bright, Like ony ditch; And then, O what a glorious sight, Warm-reekin', rich! Then, horn for horn, they stretch an' strive: Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive, Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve Are bent like drums; Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive, Bethankit! hums. Is there that owre his French ragout Or olio that wad staw a sow, Or fricassee wad make her spew Wi' perfect sconner, Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view On sic a dinner? Poor devil! see him owre his trash, As feckless as wither'd rash, His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash; His nieve a nit; Thro' bloody flood or field to dash, O how unfit! But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed, The trembling earth resounds his tread. Clap in his walie nieve a blade, He'll mak it whissle; An' legs an' arms, an' heads will sned, Like taps o' thrissle. Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care, And dish them out their bill o' fare, Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware That jaups in luggies; But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer Gie her a haggis!' Second image ©National Trust for Scotland, Robert Burns Birthplace Museum
A Woman of San Germano by Robert Braithwaite Martineau (1864) The English painter studied under pre -Raphaelite William Holman Hunt, and was perhaps inspired by Hunt's paintings since he is not known to have ever visited Italy 🇮🇹 Here, Martineau's vibrant and beautiful painting depicts a woman in traditional Neapolitan dress with a baby and pumpkin 👶 ©Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A 19th century watercolour showing a tradesman weighing out rice in an Indian marketplace 🍚 Rice symbolises prosperity, wealth, and fertility, and is sprinkled in acts of worship ( pujas) in India 🇮🇳 Image credit Wellcome Collection.
"Oranges and lemons say the bells of St Clement's", the traditional English nursery rhyme depicted on wallpaper from 1902 🍊🍋🍊🍋 The older version of the song paints a bustling picture of all the London trades in the 16th and 17th centuries, when St Peter's was known for pancake sellers, and kettles were sold around St Anne's church 🎶🎵🎶🎵 Do you remember singing this in the playground?? 🤸‍♀️🤸‍♂️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♂️ Listen to it on my story! Here's the older version: "Gay go up, and gay go down, To ring the bells of London town. Bull's eyes and targets, Say the bells of St. Margret's. Brickbats and tiles, Say the bells of St. Giles'. Halfpence and farthings, Say the bells of St. Martin's. Oranges and lemons, Say the bells of St. Clement's. Pancakes and fritters, Say the bells of St. Peter's. Two sticks and an apple, Say the bells at Whitechapel. Pokers and tongs, Say the bells at St. John's. Kettles and pans, Say the bells at St. Ann's. Old Father Baldpate, Say the slow bells at Aldgate. Maids in white Aprons Say the bells of St Catherine's. You owe me ten shillings, Say the bells of St. Helen's. When will you pay me? Say the bells at Old Bailey. When I grow rich, Say the bells at Shoreditch. Pray when will that be? Say the bells of Stepney. I'm sure I don't know, Says the great bell at Bow. Here comes a candle to light you to bed, And here comes a chopper to chop off your head."
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